I invite you to turn with me to 1 Kings chapter 17. 1 Kings chapter 17 as we read just a few verses and consider those verses this morning. We'll read verses 1 through 7. We'll consider in particular verses 2 through 6. 2 through 6. 1 Kings 17, beginning at verse 1. Now Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe and Gilead said to Ahab, As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at My word. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, Leave here, turn eastward, and hide in the Kerith ravine east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there. So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Carith ravine east of the Jordan and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Sometime later, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. There ends the reading of God's holy word. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, at Thanksgiving time, we often give thanks, of course, for a variety of things, including freedom. And especially our freedom of religion. Freedom to worship unhindered without anybody trying to stop us from driving into the church parking lot. Freedom from anyone trying to block the doors to keep us from entering. Freedom to have the Bible, multiple copies, to read it openly, to hear the preaching of it. Yet even as we give thanks for those freedoms which we hold dear, we might ask ourselves, what does the Word of God mean to you and me? We might ask ourselves, what would happen if it were taken away? If it were forbidden? If we didn't have it like so many? would you miss it? Would you search for it as water in a dry and weary land as the psalmist says in Psalm 63? Or would there be no real difference, no real change in your life if the Scriptures and the preaching of the Word of God were removed? You see, what we think about hypothetically was reality. It happened historically for Israel. And as we have the blessing of God's Word once again today and every day, we consider the opposite for Israel as God removes His Word through His Word-bearer. And He does so first of all through His command to separate. Then the Word of the Lord, verse 2 says, Then the Word of the Lord came to Elijah, Leave here, turn eastward, and hide in the Carith ravine, east of the Jordan. You see, almost as quickly as Elijah arrives, he leaves at the word of the Lord to separate from God's apostate people. He is given this command following the Lord's word of judgment against the people for denying the Lord of the word. All of the Lord's miraculous signs and wonders that He had done for and that He had accomplished on behalf of Israel by which he proved that he and his Word were living and powerful. All of his miraculous signs and wonders were ignored by Ahab from the plagues that God had carried out against Egypt to the parting of the Red Sea to the daily manna without fail to the water from the rock to all those miraculous signs and wonders that we read about in Scripture and we are amazed at because God has seen fit that we have the record of them. Ahab treated them all as if they had never happened. And in effect, he stole God's providence, his control of life and nature. He stole it away from him and gave it to Baal. But God would not stand still for it. Instead, through his word-bearer Elijah, the battle lines are drawn, as we considered last week, with a challenge to Baal as to who is God. a challenge that was given through the word of judgment announcing death to the land because of no life-giving rain or moisture. Now we know, of course, that water is a symbol of life. All we need to do is look around us when we have an abundance of water as we have had. Things are green. It's beautiful. Water is a symbol of life and a lack of water is a symbol of death. But Israel forgot who it was who gives life. Yet God would demonstrate His Word's power through the silence of no dew or rain except by Elijah's Word. Elijah was to separate from the people and therefore as long as God's Word was silent, there would be no growth, there would be no vegetation, in a sense there would be no life. A demonstration of the living and powerful Word of God. And as well, it would be causing a famine in the land. A famine in the land through hiding God's Word. Elijah is commanded to hide. Literally, he is commanded to remove himself, to absent himself, to make himself absent, and to be absent for the entire time of no rain or dew. Now, he was not told to hide himself, boys and girls, in order to be kept safe from Ahab and Jezebel. God did not need to whisk Elijah off and put him in some secure, secret location to keep him safe from Ahab. After all, later on, we know that God Himself said that He had reserved 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal. And we think of the Lord's servant Obadiah who worked in the king's court somehow. He Himself had hidden 100 prophets of the Lord and taken care of them. God did not need to whisk Elijah off in order to spare his life. Instead, Elijah is commanded to separate and in that way, God was giving Ahab and Israel a message that they would not be able to find His Word. It wouldn't be available to them. Yet the Word would continue to ring out loud and clear with every dry and dusty day that would come and go. God would remove, He would hide His Word in order to prove its power, the power of God's Word, apart from which is only death. The power of which alone restores life. Yet interestingly, through the famine, Israel would be feeling the effects of God's Word. His Word would be removed, but not the effects of His Word of judgment. They had said that Baal controlled the forces of nature. However, the effect of the Lord's Word would be felt through nature. With a burning heat in the noonday sun. With a warm blowing wind. And the sweltering nights that would bring no relief in the form of dew. All of which we know would scorch the crops and parch the land and dry up the rivers and the streams. Causing a famine for those who rejected God's Word. The Lord spoke. And His Word would not be undone. Because Elijah could not be found. That word of the Lord was more powerful than the king. More powerful than Baal. More powerful than the cries of his prophets. They didn't want God's word, so the service of the word of the Lord and the way to the Lord would be closed off, resulting in a famine much worse than a famine for bread and water, but instead a famine for the word of the Lord, As Amos says in Amos 8, The days are coming, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land, not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. Yet we also know that that was a part of the fine print of the covenant, wasn't it? As the Lord said through Moses in Deuteronomy 32, I will hide My face from them. I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faith. God Himself, who was their protector and their provider, would be gone. Confirming the power of God's Word. The silence of the prophet confirmed the Word of Judgment. Indeed, no rain or dew. The truth of the Word of God would be seen in its absence and in the dryness that pointed to the powerlessness of Baal and the powerlessness of life apart from God's Word of grace. Every day, the sign of the drought and the famine would point Israel back to the Word of God. It would point them back to their complete dependence upon it. It would point them back to what they had rejected. And the command to separate would also serve to put God's Word out of reach. Karith Ravine, we know it as the Brook Cherith, means trench, cut off, separated. It was located near the Jordan River. The Jordan River, we know, was on the border of the Promised Land. And in essence, the Jordan River marked the limits of the Promised Land and typically spoke of death, at least leaving the Promised Land. And here, pointing to spiritual death. Beloved, with the command to separate, God was turning away from those who had rejected Him. He was removing His life-giving Word. He was removing the living water that Israel needed far more than the rain, boys and girls, that has been coming down even this morning. Today, so many have abandoned the truth of the Word of God. So many have abandoned the very preaching of the Word of God. And we see the effect of that. As those who have abandoned it spend obviously less time with the Lord. They have less reliance upon the Lord in daily life. When things are going well, we like to take credit for it. When things go badly for us, we look for answers into the world. Those who have abandoned it increasingly compromising their Christian walk with what is acceptable to the world. Busy following ungodly trends. The effect of relativism. To so many, the Word of God has lost its authority and this book is treated as nothing more than a book filled with good suggestions. But it's optional. Use what you can. Use what benefits you. The rest, don't worry about. The danger is that one day the Word of God will be beyond man's reach. Yet as the psalmist in Psalm 119 teaches us throughout that psalm, the Word of God is indispensable as the Word of God cleanses and revives and strengthens and gives hope. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light upon our path. As Isaiah says, the Word of the Lord stands forever and it will not return to Him empty and void, but it accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it. It is alone the Word of life. without the Word of God, beloved one, will only live in the land of the dead and the dying with no hope. Only this Word delivers one from the spiritual drought of sin and death and hell through Jesus Christ who is the living water, who alone gives new life, and who sustains that life. And God has seen fit that we should have that Word inscripturated, the very truth of God. The reality of Jesus Christ and what He has done for His people and hope in Him. If the Word of God were taken away, if we were forbidden to have it, would you miss it? Would it change your life? You see, apart from the Word of God, beloved, there is no knowledge of God. There is no knowledge of sin. There is no knowledge of the Savior. There is no assurance or hope of salvation. In the second place, as the Lord removes His Word through His Word-bearer, He does so with the promise of provision. Now that may sound strange. It may seem like it doesn't fit here. But notice what the Lord says to Elijah. You will drink from the brook. and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there. A promise of provision revealing God's grace to Elijah. Now, as we think about the Jordan River, the Jordan River was also a reminder to the faithful of God's grace in history. As we know that that was the location where Israel witnessed the miracle-working power of God as they left what we might call the death of the wilderness to enter the life of the promised land. It was on the dry path that God had made. It was there that God had said that He would prove that He was with Joshua just as He was with Moses. And it is now there where He promises provision, revealing His grace through His sovereign provision for Elijah. While Israel suffered the Word of God's judgment, Elijah enjoyed the Word of God's grace, His covenant blessings, which Israel had forfeited. God's presence had departed from Israel when Elijah went into hiding, but His presence remained with Elijah and continued to operate. And that's our comfort. Even though so many have rejected God, period, in this life, God's Word continues to be with us. His presence continues to be with us by the power of the Holy Spirit. While Israel was learning that apart from God, there is no provision, Elijah enjoyed the provision that only God could give. And as he enjoyed the promise of provision, beloved, that was used by God to prepare God's servant, to prepare him for the contests and the confrontations that we know were still to come. As Elijah is prepared by God in isolation, the brook Cherith, again, to be separate, cut off, was most likely a gorge-type setting with steep, rocky walls and many caves with the brook running through it. And there, Elijah was literally cut off from man as he himself was taught of the sovereign power of God for him. And as he was taught that his confidence was not to be in the blessings, but in the blesser himself who would provide for him in a miraculous way. Boys and girls, I think this is one of those stories that we probably love to hear as young children. We try to imagine the birds, you go out and try to catch a bird in your yard, you can't even get close. And what a story, what a truth that God fed Elijah through the ravens. ravens we know belong to the crow family on the one hand they were considered to be unclean but on the other hand really they would be considered to be the most unlikely means of help remember Elijah was also subject to the effects of the word that he spoke he himself was subject to the effects of the drought we read in verse 7 that eventually the brook itself dried up because there was no rain and here God's sovereign choice And His supreme power is seen in that He uses selfish scavenger type of birds. We know all about it. We see the crows on the road. They're busy, busy picking up the roadkill and they want every bite. In fact, maybe you've experienced that. You're driving right toward them. You're thinking, maybe I'm going to get them this time. And they fly away just at the last moment. They like their meat. But God's sovereign choice and supreme power is seeing that He uses these birds against their natural instinct to provide for Elijah. And the beauty here, beloved, is that this God who was challenged as the God of nature and life, He proves His power over nature and in so doing, He confirms Himself to His word-bearer. And in doing so, strengthening Elijah's faith. Strengthening Elijah's faith to stand up alone against 400 prophets of Baal, to stand against them with absolutely no doubt in his mind with regard to who is God. Here, Elijah himself was called to trust the unfailing Word of the Lord. As this word-bearer himself was taught by the Word of the Lord, that He was more valuable than the birds of the air. And this promised provision, beloved, was also a sign of hope for Israel, though they didn't know it. A sign of hope for Israel that as long as God continued to communicate with Elijah, the excommunication of His people would not be final. The miraculous provision for Elijah was proof that the Lord was not yet ready to completely abandon His people as they were to be taught that the Word of the Lord does not depend on God's people for its value or its validity or its verification or its power or its effectiveness or its reality. But mankind depends completely upon the Word of the Lord. Notice finally then Elijah's response of faith. Verses 5 and 6. So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Carith Ravine east of the Jordan and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Elijah's response of faith to God's call. Unlike Israel. Elijah did what Israel failed to do. He obeyed, and most likely, if you think about it, it was against reason. You see, obedience was the only proper response, yet it may have seemed more reasonable, at least practically speaking, to stay where he knew the food was, at least for a while. It may have seemed more reasonable to do what his office of prophet was all about, to stick around and be ready to preach to the people as the dust and the heat prepared them to listen. To wait for that opportune time to call them to repentance and faith. that Elijah was to serve as a sign of obedience to God's word, that to obey is better than to sacrifice. God knew the heart of Ahab. God knew very well what he would do to demonstrate his power over against Baal's powerlessness. Elijah's response of faith to God's call, and with it he enjoyed God's blessing. Of course, the result is no surprise to us, is it? Unfailing provision. Like clockwork. Daily, these creatures that seem to have no schedule to you and me. Like clockwork. Bring him bread and meat in the morning. And bread and meat at night. Unfailing provision for all of his needs. Beloved, there are many practical applications that we could reflect on with this short text, not the least of which is that God takes care of His own. Certainly we see that there. Or to trust Him even when it does not make sense. We find that there. Or that God indeed controls all that He has made. That is clear as well. Yet even more so, we are called to see that without the Word of God, there is no life. That all will perish. It's true of this world He upholds and governs and provides for this world and this life by His Word of power. Yet even more so, beloved, Israel was taught, and we with her are taught, that her physical need pointed to her spiritual need, to her greatest need. And through Elijah's physical provision, we are taught that God alone fills that spiritual need through Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, the living water Himself, who not only refreshes, but He gives the very life that we need from that spiritual death. And like Elijah, our Lord Jesus Christ was also removed from the covenant community, yet unlike Elijah, He was removed in order to receive the judgment that was against us. He was brought outside of Jerusalem. He was thrown outside the gate and He was isolated from His Father as He bore our curse and as He bore the Lord's judgment upon Himself alone so that we would not have to. Through Jesus Christ alone, there is eternal life forevermore. And the covenant blessing of God is enjoyed by His people in full through Christ alone. But apart from Him, we know there is only destruction. There is only the drought of holiness, the drought of righteousness, and the drought of peace. And there will only be the starvation of and desolation from the presence of the Lord and the life to come. But today is still the day of God's grace. Today is still the day of salvation and the call to drink freely of the living water is still heard. It still goes forth. God has not shut it off. Yet that day will come when Jesus Christ comes again. The Word will be silent. But for those who turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and trust in Him alone, and who feed on and are nourished by the living Word, by the grace of God, they will dine forever at the Lord's heavenly banquet table. And beloved, like Elijah, as we find ourselves in the midst of apostasy that seems to continue to grow worse, we are called to live by faith, to demonstrate confidence in God and in His Word. And therefore, may we cherish God's Word. May we cherish the freedom and the privilege that is ours to have it and to hear it. May we cherish God's Word by which we are reminded of His greatness, by which we are reminded of His promises, by which we are reminded of what He has done for us, and daily as we are reminded of what we have in Christ Jesus. We need that reminder daily. Again, as the world continues to close in on us. May we cherish God's Word by which we receive comfort and encouragement in this life of sin and temptation and attack. Strength to fight against it. Strength to stand firm in it. Comfort and encouragement in times of difficulty and sickness and torment of various kinds. Beloved, may we never cease to cherish the privilege and opportunity to read and meditate upon the Word of God, to hear it preached. May we cherish God's Word by which He nourishes our souls and sustains us in this life and keeps His truth before us and confirms it to our hearts and lives as He did with Elijah and by which He draws us closer to Him. A beloved thanks be to God for His living and powerful Word by which He saves us and sustains us both now and forever. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we humbly thank You for Your Word of life, for Your incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, and the life that we have in Him. For Your Word inscripturated for us, for all of Your people, by which we are strengthened and nourished day by day by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Father, Your Word indeed, which completely contradicts the Word of the world, for Your Word is truth. Yet, Lord, we too must confess that we often take it for granted. So often our copy of Your Word sits on the shelf collecting dust as it is opened sporadically at best. As so many other things in life that make us so busy take priority over Your Word. Father, we pray that You would give us a renewed sense of the glory of Your Word and a renewed zeal for it. that we might delight to be in it day by day, meditating upon it, seeking what it is You have there for us every time we seek to be fed by Your Word. And we thank You for the preaching of it. We pray, Lord, that You would continue to bless us with that Word preached, that we might never tire of it, but might always look forward to it expectantly. Father, hear our prayer. For Jesus' sake, in His name we pray. Amen.